Away from a NASCAR track, you might find Jesse Iwuji as a Lieutenant Commander serving as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. He’s assigned to the Naval Beach Group, as the Executive Officer of the unit, managing over 30 sailors and three other subordinate units, which include the Beach Master Unit, Assault Craft Unit and Amphibious Construction Battalion, totaling more than 700 people.
At least once per month, Iwuji has Navy Reserve drills on a given weekend in San Diego and Ventura, Calif. Still, he’s been in attendance for 30 of the 31 Xfinity Series races in 2022 and will be on site at the final two events of the year.
Oh yeah, he’s the owner of Jesse Iwuji Motorsports’ No. 34 entry in the Xfinity Series. He’s competed in 11 races this season with a best finish of 11th at Daytona. He also operates an eSports company and a real estate business.
“I don’t really have enough time,” Iwuji told Jayski.com. “I don’t get to do everything that I need to do every day.”
At Michigan in August of 2021, Iwuji announced that he and NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith were going to tackle being team owners in NASCAR. With a prominent figure in his corner, Iwuji wanted to make a race team of his own and not have to rely on getting rides elsewhere.
“In order for you to be in control of your destiny, you’ve got to have ownership,” Iwuji stated. “You can be like any other driver and run for one of these teams, but if they want to switch or do something different, you’re out. You’re an easy part of the puzzle to move around. We didn’t want to be in that position.”
Assembling a newly formed race team was not an easy task, something he learned immediately. Not only is it a financial burden, but hiring the ideal team members is a task of its own right.
It wasn’t until the third week of January that the No. 34 team had a piece of equipment or any personnel, Iwuji explained. Making it to the season opener at Daytona was going to be a bind. The team purchased a few outdated cars from JD Motorsports and Big Machine Racing to kickstart the program. All of the chassis were between five and eight years old.
After failing to qualify at Phoenix in March, there was a complete overhaul of personnel. Dan Stillman made the jump over from Alpha Prime Racing to crew chief the No. 34 Chevrolet and lead the freshman team’s seven full-time employees. The only original employee left, aside from management, was the spotter.
After running the first five Xfinity races with DGM Racing, Kyle Weatherman joined Jesse Iwuji Motorsports full time at Richmond. Not only has the Missouri native become the primary driver of the No. 34 car, but he works at the shop as a mechanic during the week.
“Right place, right time,” Weatherman said of the opportunity. “They were in need of some assistance in getting better in the points. Their first five races were a struggle and put them in a hole. It’s grown into something that’s really cool and really big very quick. I think it’s got a very bright future for Jesse and I both.”
Admittedly, Iwuji still has a lot to learn as a driver. But Weatherman has shined in a handful of his outings. At Michigan, he qualified a career-high eighth and was competitive in the early portions of the race. Last weekend at Homestead, he again qualified eighth and raced inside the top five throughout a chunk of the opening stage.
On sheer speed, Weatherman believes the No. 34 car is capable of running between 12th and 15th on a frequent basis. But it comes down to minimizing mistakes and maximizing opportunities.
“We’ve shown the speed that we have,” Weatherman added. “We just have to get a bit more consistent. We’ve had a few things bite us that have taken us out of contention from where we’ve actually been running.”
Over the course of the season, the No. 34 team has leased engines from Hendrick, while upgrading equipment, such as spindles, control arms, truck arms and brakes.
Iwuji knows that due to his lack of experience, it will take time for him to become a competitive driver. But he’s brought a handful of sponsors to the No. 34 team, which has key partners in Equity Prime Mortgage, Coca-Cola and Chevrolet, where he knows he will have to drive to represent the team.
Iwuji has an entrepreneurial mindset that has helped elevate the No. 34 team. He knew that eventually he would have to focus on that aspect of the team and bring in drivers that could close the gap competitively.
“Before we started the program, we knew that at some point we needed to bring someone in that knows more than me [about driving the car],” Iwuji said. “I don’t know everything; I only know a little bit. I know I’m not the best driver out there, I don’t have the experience. I’ll outrun some people and be faster than some people, but I’ve always looked to find somebody better than me to put in so I can see what they are doing. How can I mimic that?
“I’m a driver, but an owner first. I like to look at the overall team to make sure it’s here forever.”
Despite failing to qualify in three races, the No. 34 team sits 31st in the owner standings, just seven points below 29th. Mathematically, it’s still possible to crack the top 25 with just two races remaining.
From the beginning of the season to now, Iwuji is proud of the ground his program has made. It makes it all that much more meaningful when he sees Weatherman finish eighth at New Hampshire or run inside the top 10 to 15 on a consistent basis.
“Every time we get a top-20 finish, it’s a solid day for our team,” Iwuji added. “Top 15, top 10 is a win. I keep telling myself, I can’t wait until I get the experience necessary to be able to do that too. I can’t do that just yet. It takes a lot of time.”
The biggest challenge for Iwuji in 2022 has been figuring out the answers to some questions about the team ownership aspect that he doesn’t know yet.
“There’s real things to continue looking at throughout the year,” he said. “Managing the budget, managing the people, managing expectations and managing the proper growth so that you’re there for a long time. That’s the tough part, managing what you have and trying to be ready for unforeseen roadblocks that get in the way.”
But with just two races remaining in the season, Iwuji is content with his first year in the game as a team owner. Everything here on out is a bonus.
“You start a business and might have immediate ups, you might have immediate downs,” he said. “There are some people that start a business and immediately start losing money and everything goes downhill. At the end of the day, if you have a clear vision and see yourself getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, then you can make it happen.
“For us, everything that’s happened has supposed to happen. I think we’re going in a positive direction.”
Eventually, Iwuji would like to expand his team. Should the necessary sponsorship come around to start a second team, he would like to move to two full-time cars in 2023. From there, he wants to one day be a Cup Series team owner.